Why not try it?
by shettle
Summary: Hermione finds a forgotten present at the bottom of her bag, containing a certain Weasley's Wizard Wheezes product. She tries it out.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N** Kay, basically this is the first fanfic I've ever posted, so be gentle! (: Anyways, basically all the stuff in this fic is owned by J.K. Rowling, however, I did tweak and add stuff to the description about a certain Weasley's Wizard Wheezes product, which I lifted from the H-BP. I'd also like to thank my friend for looking over this fic for me/prodding me into uploading it :P

Anyways, read on and enjoy.

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Hermione fiddled with her wand, seriously contemplating whether to pull her bushy hair out in frustration. She was currently sitting in the Hogwarts library during her free lesson, with absolutely _nothing_ to do.

The essays that she had been set by Professor McGonagall were already mostly finished when she had started, so it had taken her around 10 minutes to complete.

Snape's essay just needed a retouch on the conclusion, but she would sort that out when she would go and meet up with Ron and Harry in the Gryffindor common room. This was so that she could try and send them, or at least Harry, a subtle hint that they needed to get on with theirs, instead of playing bloody wizard's chess. It would probably take Ron a few more minutes to catch on. Hermione scowled slightly at the thought that Lavender might be dangling off of Ron's arm again, and decided to stay in the library a little longer.

Heaving her bag onto the table in front of her, Hermione rummaged through, determined to find something to take her mind off the direction her thoughts were heading. Deep down in the depths, underneath her many text books, parchment, spare quills and other bits and pieces the littered her bag, Hermione's fingertips grazed something covered in wrapping paper. Curious as to what it was, Hermione extracted the parcel carefully so as not to attract the attention of Madam Pince, as she would definitely not approve of wrapping paper being left in her clean library.

The small, rectangular parcel, wrapped in Christmas-themed paper, had been given to Hermione by Ginny, and she still hadn't opened it, months later. Feeling slightly guilty, she read the note attached to it.

_To Hermione,  
__Merry Christmas! I hope you like this just as much as I did.  
__Love, Ginny xx_

Hermione wondered what Ginny had meant by that, and quickly unwrapped the gift. She gasped at the contents.

Inside was a plain black box, labelled:

"_Patented Daydream Charms  
__Special Extended Edition_

_One slightly-more-complicated incantation and you will again enter a top quality, highly realistic FORTY-minute daydream, with another, yes, another __big difference. This time, YOU choose that special someone to accompany you into your deepest fantasy. Easy to fit into the average school lesson and virtually undetectable (side-effects include vacant expression and minor drooling). Not for sale to under-sixteens."_

Hermione looked furtively around, a blush tingeing her cheeks. No one had spotted her holding the box, had they? Luckily for her, Madam Pince was examining returned books with a magnifying glass, to make sure they were in pristine condition. The only other people she could see were a boy and a girl, who were too deeply engrossed with one another's company, or, more precisely, one another's lips, to pay her any attention.

Hermione's gaze slipped back to the box that had been stowed on her lap under the desk. There could be no harm in trying it, could there? After all, she had wanted to examine the quality of the charm when she had first seen it in _Weasley's Wizard Wheezes_, but had replaced the box hastily, even though she had been offered the original "_Patented Daydream Charm"_ from Fred and George in the first place.

Opening the box that was still on her lap, she pulled out the instructions and placed them on her desk. Reading through them carefully, she managed to get the gist of the incantation. Shifting in her chair, so that she sat more comfortably, Hermione whispered the incantation to herself and performing the necessary wand gestures.

Instantly, Hermione could no longer see. She was still sitting down, but the hard wooden chair she had previously been sitting upon had changed, it was now softer, the chair seemed to have armrests, and it had a higher back.

Hermione was feeling panicky now. Had the spell not worked? Had she done something wrong? Admittedly, unlike what had been written in the instructions, she had not pictured the one who she wanted to have a fantasy about, but that was because she did not know herself who she wanted with her. A fleeting image of blonde hair, black robes and refined features had flitted across her mind, but she had banished them. The faces of Harry and Ron swam before her eyes, but that had been way too weird to imagine. The same had happened when she had imagined Viktor Krum. No other images had sprung to mind. Was that why she was now sitting in total darkness? She moved to get up, but a fireplace suddenly sprang into life to her left, making her drop back down in her seat.

The light of the fire showed that she was in a large hall, with wooden flooring and stone walls. It looked like it was the same size as the Great Hall at Hogwarts, but there was not a scrap of furniture anywhere, there was a real ceiling in place, and there was only one large door. She moved to get up, and noticed that the texture of her clothing had changed. Looking down at herself, she was now wearing an outfit similar to the clothes she had worn for the Yule Ball, 2 years ago. She reached up, patting her hair, and discovered that it, too, was similar to how she had worn it for the Ball.

"Well, well, Miss Granger. Isn't this a… delicious surprise." a voice whispered in her ear, hot breath tickling her neck.

Hermione spun around, holding back a scream, and came face-to-face with Lucius Malfoy.

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End of the first chapter. I hop you enjoyed it, as I was quite nervous about posting this. Anyway, keep an eye out for more chapters, which should (hopefully) be soon!


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N **Just quick note to say again that Harry Potter stuff all belongs to J.K. Rowling. Yes, even Luscious Lucius, although I wish he were mine ):  
But yeah, read on and enjoy!

* * *

"_You!_" Hermione cried out, flinging herself from her chair and reaching for her wand in her left pocket. It wasn't there. Her pocket wasn't there.

"Where is it? Where is my wand?" she thought, patting herself down, although in dress robes like the ones she was now wearing, there were few places to conceal a handkerchief, let alone a wand.

"Relax, Miss Granger. I haven't done anything to your wand, and I am also unarmed." Malfoy tried to reassure her. The smirk which he now had in place, however, did not make her feel any better. She was fairly sure he could still pose a threat to her without a wand, as she was merely a 17-year-old girl, while Lucius was a fully-grown man. It was pretty obvious who would win in a physical fight.

As if he could sense her doubts in him, he said "I believe that _you_ brought _me_ here, Miss Granger, albeit unwillingly. I do not generally attack my hosts. It shows a lack of decorum and proper upbringing." He even managed to look disgusted at the idea.

Hermione scoffed. "Yeah, killing innocent people is really good proof of a proper upbringing and good decorum." She looked around the hall, frustrated, although she kept one eye on Malfoy, not daring to turn her back on him and walk towards the large doors at the end of the hall. "Why are you here, anyway?"

Lucius, who had seated himself in the now empty chair, sighed. "I thought that I had explained this already. _You_ brought me here." He spoke in a slow, deliberate way, as if he were talking to a child, chin resting on his leather-clad hand, which only made Hermione even more frustrated with him.

"I couldn't have brought you here. It's not possible! You're a Death Eater, for crying out loud. This enchantment was meant to have given me a fantasy with a guy who I actually like, not my enemy's dad." She started pacing across the room, arms crossed and vaguely aware of Lucius' silver eyes following her, while her mind worked furiously.

This daydream had to end soon, right? It was only meant to be forty-minutes long. Fortunately, her watch had remained in place with her in the daydream, and she glanced at it, stopped dead, and groaned in horror. She had only been in the daydream for about 8 minutes. That meant she still had 32 minutes before she could return to the real world. There had to be another way. Maybe if she pinched herself?

Before she could do anything, however, strong arms wrapped themselves around her waist. Hermione cried out, not having heard Lucius get up and walk across to her at all, and struggled against him, but Lucius held her tightly to his chest.

"Get off of me!" She yelled at him, trying to pull her arms out from beneath his.

"Now, now, Miss Granger." Hermione froze, and Lucius had brought his mouth close to her ear, and was talking in a low and deep voice, sending shivers down her spine. "We still have a while left in this fantasy of yours. Why don't we make this time count, hmm?"

Abruptly, Lucius let her go, letting out a quiet laugh. "I'm sorry, Miss Granger, I really couldn't help myself. I just enjoy playing the part of the big, bad death eater too much." Hermione, who had been frozen to the spot, now suddenly came back to life.

Whirling around, she advanced upon him, bright sparks of anger travelling through her, mixing with the still present fear she had just experienced. "You think that's _funny_, do you? Being a creepy old git is supposed to get big laughs nowadays, is it?" The smile that had lingered on Lucius' face faded as she paced towards him, but was not replaced by anger, like she had expected. Instead, he seemed apologetic.

"I apologise, Granger. I just never seem to get a good laugh nowadays. To make it up to you, what do you say to a spot of dancing? We are supposed to be doing something that you will enjoy, are we not?" She stared blankly at him for a few seconds. Dancing? He wanted to dance with _her_? The man who insulted her every time the met in the real world?

Hermione did not even get a chance to reply in any way, as Lucius moved towards her. Smiling, he said "I shall just have to take your silence as consent, then."

She just gaped at Lucius as he placed one of her hands on his shoulder, took the other in one of his, and placed his hand on the small of her back. She could feel the heat of his hand through the fabric of her robes, and the space between their now slowly dancing bodies was so narrow that she could feel the heat of his body reflecting off of hers. Old-fashioned waltz music filled the room, and Lucius sent them spinning across the floor in time with the music.

Hermione did not know how to react. Lucius was acting in a way that she would never have expected him capable of if she had met him in real life. She was being swept away in time with the beat Lucius had set, and although under normal circumstances she would have considered this scenario to be wonderful, it was too romantic and dream-like to be shared by _Lucius Malfoy_ of all people.

Hermione looked up into his face then, and saw him looking at her with something similar to softness in his grey eyes. Now that was going too far. Anger bubbling inside of her once more, she yanked her hands away from him. The music stopped as soon as she had pulled away. No way in _hell_would the real Lucius Malfoy be acting like this. She glared at this fake Lucius, while he just smirked at her. "Something wrong, Miss Granger?"

"Of course there's something bloody wrong! What in Merlin's name do you think you're playing at, Malfoy? Why are you doing this to me? You can't possibly be the real Malfoy. You're just some weird excuse for Lucius Malfoy that has come to try and make me doubt myself or something, as part of some weird scheme to mess with my head, aren't you?" For some reason, Hermione felt slightly betrayed, which just kindled the fire that was now burning hotly in her chest. The fact that she was getting almost no reaction at all from Lucius, except for an insufferable smirk, was also getting at her. "I don't quite understand what you're talking about, Granger."

"Don't bloody _Granger _me!" She snarled. Quickly, she marched towards him once more, and punched Lucius square in the face, in almost the same spot that she had punched Draco 3 years ago. Feeling slightly better at seeing the quickly reddening mark on Lucius' face, she turned on her heel and stalked away towards the door, which was a lot closer since Lucius had whirled them towards it when they were dancing. She heaved one of the doors open, something she was sure she wouldn't have been able to do if she hadn't been so _angry_at Malfoy, and left.

Lucius had barely flinched while Hermione was getting worked up, and had taken the blow by her, still retaining his signature smirk. After Hermione had left, he said in a soft voice "I'm sure I'll be seeing you quite soon, Miss Granger.", and Lucius and his surroundings disappeared.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Hermione opened her eyes with a start, heart thumping wildly. She was somewhat surprised to see that she was back in the library. Madame Pince was at her desk, still completely absorbed in the returned books that were in tall piles around her, and the boy and girl were still quite absorbed with one another.

Looking down at her watch, she noticed with a start, that she had only been daydreaming for 20 minutes. Hermione sighed, running a hand through her unruly hair. Wincing, however, she noticed that the knuckles of her hand were bright red and stinging with pain from where she had whacked Malfoy. She poked at them, marvelling at just how realistic the '_highly-realistic FORTY-minute daydream_' had been, even though she was still quite furious with the would-be Malfoy.

Stowing away the box and the other objects that littered the desk she was working at, Hermione quickly made for the Gryffindor common room, to meet up with Harry, and, if she could bear it, Ron. As she walked, she promised herself that she would not dwell on what had happened this afternoon, and also to never use a _Weasley's Wizard Wheezes_ product again.

Once back in the common room, she threw herself onto her favourite chair by the fire, right next to Harry.

"I see you noticed Ron, then" He said, flipping through his copy of _Advanced Potion Making._

"What?" Hermione asked, confused. Harry nodded towards a corner, where Ron and Lavender where sharing an armchair and whispering and giggling to each other. Strangely, Hermione was not as annoyed as she thought she would be, although still irritated with him acting like a prat towards her. "Oh. No, I didn't notice. Really wish I hadn't just seen _that_,though." Harry grimaced in agreement and Hermione sighed wearily.

"Well, what's up with you, then? If it's not Ron then what else is bothering you?" Harry had even put his book down out of concern for her.

Hermione blush, pink tingeing her cheeks. Quickly she said "Nothing, just had a whole load of work to do in the library. It took me so long to find -"

"Come off it, Hermione." Harry said, cutting her off and raising an incredulous eyebrow. "I can tell when you're irritated. Your hair goes all static-y" He grinned when her eyes widened in horror and reached up to pat her hair. "Just kidding! Although I do know when you're annoyed. We've been friends for years, so I'd be embarrassed if I couldn't tell how you were feeling by now."

Hermione sighed again. "Don't worry about it Harry. It's a thing that I just had to deal with, but it's sorted now, although I'm in the right mind to complain."

"Fine. I don't want to know what you're talking about. It sounds a bit too confusing, anyway. Shall we just go down to dinner?" Hermione agreed, and for the rest of the evening, she talked with Harry, they finished their homework, and then Hermione set off for bed. She read a few books, while the other girls in their dormitory giggled and gossiped for a few minutes, before good nights were said and the lights turned off.

Hermione sank easily into sleep that night, and for a few hours, she seemed to dream normally, with nothing particularly clear, but with lots of bright colours. After several hours, however, Hermione dreamed, extremely clearly, of a large, fire-lit room that was similar to the Great Hall in size, and she was again sitting in the chair near the fire.

She heard a voice chuckle right next to her ear.

"Welcome back, Miss Granger."

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Actual talking in this chapter! Amazing! ^-^  
I sorta have some bad news though, cos I'm starting school again soon, and have holiday homework to do, and may not be able to update too often :( so yeah sorrryy!!  
I'd like to say thanks to the people who reviewed, btw. They made me want to continue with this story, cos I'd be too afraid to, otherwise :D So yeah, big thanks to anyone who has commented/may comment in the future (hint, hint)


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